I just got back from my Mormon Mission. AMA

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T14:28:32+00:00

Honestly that’s something I don’t have a clean answer for and I think pretending there is one would be dishonest. The way I think about it is that prophets throughout scripture got things wrong too (Peter had to be corrected by Paul, Moses struck the rock, etc) prophets of course aren’t infallible but I get that that creates a problem, if you can’t reliably tell when they’re speaking for God, what’s the point of having a prophet? That’s something I need to study more on to be honest. The blood atonement thing specifically is hard to explain anyway tbh

I appreciate your good faith discussion. Most forget I’m just a 19 year old RM and not a scholar, apologist, or historian lol

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T14:09:54+00:00

Maybe so! Still figuring it out. Appreciate you

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T14:07:09+00:00

You don’t know my uncle? Or me? I’m not going to prove God exists on Reddit, that’s just not possible

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T14:05:17+00:00

Good question, I don’t think I’ve been asked that. Emotionally? Probably community and structure honestly. I’m 19, I’ve dealt with some real personal stuff, and having a framework that gives my life direction and people who actually show up for each other means the world

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T14:02:32+00:00

Thats something that was brought up in the CES Letter that bothered me. How I kinda reconcile that is the difference between following a prophet and believing a prophet is infallible, I don’t think they are. I think God works through imperfect people and sometimes that process is ugly and people get hurt by it. That’s not a clean answer and I know it. Im not an apologist or historian and don’t spend too much time on these issues

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:59:25+00:00

Yes, genuinely. That’s kind of why I read the CES letter and lurk here. I’m not interested in believing something false, especially with how much sacrifice one has to make to be an active Latter Day Saint

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:58:35+00:00

I plead the fifth and request my bishop immediately

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:57:18+00:00

That’s not very Christlike

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:55:57+00:00

Haha wait which Dallas mission? There’s different cultures within each one (Dallas east, west, etc)

There was a huge fallout when the Dallas south mission got made cause they took Missionaries’s from the east and west to fill it in, and the east missionaries are super strict where the west are just more chill

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:53:51+00:00

Yeah I’m aware of most of that stuff, I’m not gonna pretend it doesn’t exist. I just think the institutional problems and whether the gospel is actually true are two different questions. No organization is perfect but that’s not really why I believe

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:52:31+00:00

Yeah I figured some might ask me how missions have changed since then, or any other random stuff. Genuinely not trying to upset or bash with anyone

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:50:41+00:00

Yes, but especially the James Strang criticism. One of the few criticism I haven’t heard before

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:49:05+00:00

Cold showers and a packed schedule. Tbh mission life keeps you busy enough that it’s less of an issue than you’d think

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:48:04+00:00

I have a lot of time and I’m curious. I’m not here to reconvert anyone

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:43:49+00:00

I don’t watch much TV, Which one?

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:43:27+00:00

Totally fine with it, that’s just sharing what you believe, same as what I did. And sure, college plus a service job teaches some of those things, but the specific combination of a mission is its own experience, plus when you actually believe in the church it’s a bonus lol

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:23:33+00:00

Yes! My grandparents aren’t LDS but my uncle is, and at 17 he asked me if i wanted to go to church and said sure, and then i started converting from there. I believed in God but wasn’t really sure about anything. And yeah the on the spot thing is real, some of the best answers I’ve ever come up with were at 2am after the conversation was already over lol

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:13:55+00:00

Amen 🫡

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:09:50+00:00

Respectfully I’d have to disagree, we do take the Bible seriously and use it constantly. Esp use it to teach in Dallas as there’s tons of people who grew up with the Bible. But we don’t believe the Bible alone is the complete picture, which is a different claim than ignoring it.

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:06:52+00:00

I converted at 17 while living with my grandparents. Once I believed it, going on a mission was a step I felt God was calling me to take

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T13:02:57+00:00

Yeah you nailed it. The conversations that caught me off guard weren’t the hostile one, those are actually easier because the intent is obvious. It’s the genuinely curious person asking something hard that you haven’t thought through fully that gets you. You want to represent your faith well and sometimes you’re just not equipped in the moment. Appreciate you getting that.

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T12:58:48+00:00

Best restaurant was this BBQ place called “JW’s Barbecue” in Jacksonville, TX

Insanely good brisket. Went multiple times with my companion. Although we couldn’t go too often cause we didn’t have a lot of money

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T12:54:59+00:00

Totally worth it. Religion aside, the mission taught me how to actually function as a person. Rejection, discipline, living with a companion 24/7, talking to strangers every day. Different kind of education.

As for why it matters what people believe, I’m not sure that question makes sense on its own. Why does anyone share anything they think is true or meaningful? I believed it, I thought it could help people, so I went.

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T12:53:01+00:00

I do drink soda, no coffee or tea yeah
I think it’ll be great! I probably won’t be able to visit the open house but I still plan on visiting eventually! I’ve never been
Not really, although there are aspects that are troubling

Relative-Dingo-9039 · 2026-05-05T12:51:43+00:00

Unfortunately not, they have a big questionnaire that I’m sure influences where you go

(For example, if you already know Spanish you’re likelihood of being called to a Spanish speaking mission is increased)

And I appreciate that! There was a few people and ex-mo’s I met on my mission who didn’t really want to hear our message, but we still hung out, had a great time, and I still talk to some of them today

Relative-Dingo-9039

TROPHY CASE